Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The Singapore state owned and controlled newspaper (the entire media is state owned and controlled like in the former Soviet Union) Straits Times of Sept 29, 2011 has the story "Singapore's population hits 5.18 million as at end of June". "Singapore's population has reached 5.18 million, up 2.1 per cent from 5.08 million last year" it says.

It says it's citizens have increased "there are now 3.26 million citizens, up 0.8 per cent from 3.23 million in 2010". The other 2 million plus people are either permanent residents or temporary workers.

But the figure of 3.26 million "citizens" is interesting. What is left unexplained either by design or by accident is this. We are not told the composition of this number, which is troubling if anyone understood the dire situation of it's population's composition.

We know that daily we have planeloads of Chinese immigrants arriving from Mainland China for settlement in Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew's immigration policy of boosting the island's population with them (he prefers immigrants from China over others).

We also know that today, Singapore faces a debilitating problem for having the world's lowest birth rate, a very low marriage rate, and an overwhelming aging population.

To make matters worse, Singapore's skilled and educated are leaving its shores in droves, the departing numbers boosted even further by increasing numbers of Singapore students leaving for foreign education opting not to return and national service deserters.

By any reckoning, Singapore's native population is in fact dying off, and if, according to this report, it's citizens have increased in number, we can only presume that a sizable and growing proportion of these citizens are in fact recent immigrants who are being given instant citizenship, mostly from Mainland China.

Since correct figures are not given, as can be expected of any one party state like Singapore, there is a strong possibility, in the light of the above alarming trends that perhaps of the 3.26 million citizens only 1.5 million are in fact native Singaporeans and the rest are in fact recent immigrants mainly from Mainland China who are given instant citizenship.

If that is the case, which I hope is not so, Singapore today is left with only 1.5 million or so native born Singaporeans and the rest 4 million or so, are in fact recent arrivals mainly from China made up either of citizens, permanent residents or temporary workers.

Since, like clockwork, the local population's decline continues unabated with fewer and fewer people left while the foreign population of Singapore, regardless of whether Lee Kuan Yew would call them citizens or otherwise, continues to increase unrelenting, similarly like clockwork, I am not sure how long it would take for the Singapore native population to shrink to 1 million, then to half million, then to quarter million, and then to zero, leaving behind only Lee Kuan Yew family and friends.

I expect this to happen either this year or by latest in 2 years. It is your country not mine. I am only the messenger , not the cause of it. The island is yours. If you chose to do nothing, the decision is yours, not mine.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Singapore's state owned and controlled newspaper of Sept 27, 2011 has the story "SPP, Reform Party, NSP open to Tan Jee Say's coalition idea".

Carrying a large picture of him, it talks about Tan Jee Say, a fleeting member of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party, who contested in the recent elections under their ticket, lost, and now appears going around trying to convince Singaporeans of his idea of forming a coalition of opposition parties.

Somehow there is something strange about Tan. Somehow he does not fit the pattern that we all expect of opposition candidates in Singapore politics.

A quick reminder of who he is is useful. Recall he was reported to have been Goh Chock Tong, former Lee Kuan Yew right hand man's personal secretary in which position he dutifully served for many years.

I suppose from this we can assume that in all those years, he had no opinion about Lee Kuan Yew's foremost political victim JB Jeyartenam and all the injustice he had to endure; no opinions at all while he dutifully served his master Goh Chock Tong.

I suppose while Lee Kuan Yew was systematically denying Singaporeans rights by denying the right of free speech and expression, by denying the right of the people to assemble or protest or to exercise any of their Universal rights, I suppose this man had no opinion at all one way or another dutifully serving his boss Goh Chock Tong and collecting the huge salary that went along with the dirty work.

And after serving the PAP authoritarian government all these years, he suddenly surfaces in April of this year, claiming that he is a proponent of democracy and freedom and contests the elections against his former boss's government.

And while at it, he has the audacity to lecture to Dr. Chee Soon Juan, the one person in Singapore today who has sacrificed so much for Singaporeans and the well deserved leader of his party the SDP, that he, Dr. Chee should be less confrontational against the PAP administration to improve his image among Singaporeans.

Who does this fellow think he is anyway? Had I been Dr. Chee, I would have put this man, who appears too big for his shoes, in his proper place there and then.

Coming back to the puzzling aspect of Tan Jee Say, he simply does not fit the pattern.

The well expected pattern in all cases where there is a real opposition threat to the PAP has always been the commencement of defamation of character actions or alternatively trumped up criminal charges followed by either imprisonment or bankruptcy and the disqualification of the person from politics altogether.

This was the fate of JB Jeyaretnam, Dr. Chee Soon Juan and Tang Liang Hong, who had gone into exile.

As for me, Gopalan Nair, in 1991, it was contempt of court charges and suspension from law practice for 2 years. In fact the litmus test to know whether someone was really an opposition candidate was whether or not he has been persecuted by Lee Kuan Yew.

But the pattern seems to be completely different in this man's case. Suprisingly and compeletely out of the ordinary, Lee Kuan Yew's state controlled media newspaper the Straits Times has in fact gone out of the way to give him great publicity, show him in very favorable light and continues to do it, a fact, which never happens in the case of any real opposition candidate. In fact the PAP government is treating Tan Jee Say, this so called opposition political figure as if he was one of them!

Furthermore he has not suffered any harassment from Lee Kuan Yew and his friends. He has not been sued, arrested or any way abused by the Lee Kuan Yew government machine. My question is, if in fact this man claims to be who he is, why has not Lee Kuan Yew embarked on his usual vendetta and reprisals.

Frankly, the pieces simply do not fit in this man's case.

My suspicion is this. Lee Kuan yew realised that in the last election there has been a big shift of public opinion against his dictatorial government. Therefore if matters continued that way, he may even lose. So the time has come to think of even more ingenious ways to stop the slide into oblivion.

One way to do this is to send in the Fifth Column. Send in Tan Jee Say. He will claim to be opposition and so on. He will divide and split the opposition and make them follow his version of opposition politics, in Singapore parlance "non confrontational style" or another way of saying "we support Lee Kuan Yew anyway".

And if Tan manages to fool them, Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP would have won again. They would have killed 2 birds with one stone. On the one hand they would have fooled the people into thinking they have democracy now, while at the same time ensuring that Lee Kuan Yew would continue with his undisturbed rule.

I don't think Tan Jee Say is fooling anyone. As for SPP and NSP they are already part of this Lee Kuan Yew's game anyway, and their willingness to even consider this ridiculous proposal should be no surprise to anyone.

As for the Reform Party, it had already has gone into deep hibernation one day after the elections and would appear again from under the woodwork in 2016.

I am glad I don't see the name SDP anywhere in this game that Tan Jee Say is trying to play. I am sure Dr. Chee sees what I see and I don't see him ever being part of this Lee Kuan Yew's tomfoolery. I think we should tell Tan Jee Say that we are smarter than you think.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

From the looks of it, Singapore island is fast becoming Lee Kuan Yew family's personal island company, fast transforming from a island city state into one where temporary workers from around the the rest of Asia come in at intervals to make a buck while the indigenous Singaporeans become a tiny minority in the island of their birth.

This transformation which steadily progresses day by day is inimical to Singapore's long term interests, destroying everything that stood for Singapore turning it into a free for all where all and sundry come in if accepted for short stints at a time, losing it's character it's history and everything that true Singaporeans ever fought for.

A look at the present goings on in the island will make this abundantly clear.

Singapore, we should not forget, is already a very small crowded island with a tiny population, made up of 3 million or so local born Singaporean and 2 million foreigners. In fact, as Singapore restricts the free flow of information, many believe that the figures are already in fact in the reverse, that is, there is 3 million foreigners and 2 million Singaporeans.

First we have an aging population coupled with the honor of having the world's lowest birth rate. This means the local population are literally dying off and not being replaced. Despite all attempts to persuade the people to have more children, Lee has failed miserably as the stress of financial burdens and uncertainty of whether they can find jobs, is making family life almost impossible.

Second, the dictatorial government policies which deny free speech and expression, denial of fundamental human rights such as the right to peaceful assembly and the repeated and constant use of defamation lawsuits to silence ordinarily law abiding citizens from criticizing the government means that the island's brain drain is the largest in the world.

Local lawyers, civil servants, teachers and engineers are packing up and leaving for settlement abroad in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. This greatly reduces the skilled and educated local population leaving behind only the unskilled incapable of emigrating or government connected cronies who are paid mind boggling salaries.

Third, the large populations of Singaporeans already living in Australian cities such as Sydney or Melbourne already serves as a magnet to friends and relatives remaining in Singapore to join them abroad.

It is an incontrovertible truth that once a Singaporean tastes life in the west such as those presently in Australia, they realize how good and rewarding life can be living in free and democratic societies and invariably they persuade those remaining relatives and friends to join them.

And as more and more Singaporeans join the flow to the West the word gets out to everyone remaining in Lee's island that life is not worth living that way. This flow leads obviously to an almost total decline in the native Singapore population which now has already become unstoppable.

Frankly there is not a single friend of mine remaining in Singapore who has any children still there. They are all either in Australia New Zealand or Canada.

Fourth we have the students who leave for study abroad. Almost to the last student, none of them want to return.

As for the men, they all stay away from national service in Singapore which turns them all into life long exiles and fugitives but they seem to have no problem over it, which further contributes to the decline of the native population even further.

Under Singapore law, refusing to do national service is a criminal offense even if you have given up Singapore citizenship and adopted a foreign one; which means anytime the person returns to Singapore, he is immediately arrested, charged and sent to prison.

Today Lee Kuan Yew successfully runs the island as his personal company which merely pretends to be something which it is not; it is not a real nation.

Every single Minister who serves his PAP political party is not a political leader in the real sense, but simply bureaucrats which he appoints at astronomically high salaries who help him run the country.

None of them truly aspires to be a political leader which they know they are not. They do it for the lavish salaries they receive and they know that it is entirely up to Lee Kuan yew as to how long they keep their jobs, which by the way, they don't mind at all, given the stratospheric salaries they earn.

As for the other junior workers in Lee Kuan Yew Singapore companies, as local Singaporeans go abroad for permanent settlement and the population shrinks, he brings in workers principally from Communist China to replace them, to some of whom he gives Singapore citizenship.

These recent immigrants who become instant Singaporeans know nothing about Singapore. Some of them remain while others go back to their countries of origin if they no longer find Singapore appealing; so to replace them, Lee will make a few other select individuals citizens.

Singapore citizenship to these people don't mean anything. They neither care or are interested in the island. They either work somewhere or set up a company to do business, to which I suppose they will remain as long as it is worthwhile.

Parallel to these recent immigrants turned instant citizens, Lee gives hundreds of thousands of semi skilled and unskilled workers temporary work passes. These men an women mostly from the neighbouring impoverished countries work at stints and go home when they have made enough when they themselves are replaced by others in similar circumstances to take their places.

Frankly in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore of today, where almost every single business enterprise is either owned by him directly or indirectly as semi state owned companies, the whole point of living in Singapore is to work in one his companies. If there was ever a sense of loyalty or belonging to a country, that notion is long dead.

Lee Kuan Yew has already transformed or just about transforming Singapore island into his private island company. Singaporeans, or those still remaining, are merely there to serve him. And while there, the recent immigrants better behave and not criticize him or his policies or else their citizenships would be revoked and they are repatriated on the next flight home. As for the locals, better not complain or criticize either because there are his law courts which will fix you or bankrupt you with a defamation of character lawsuit.

A miserable life either way, don't you think, except of course if you are so helpless that anything is better than starving to death in your own native country.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times of Sept 24, 2011 has the story "Man in road rage incident is high ranking RBS exec". It tells the case of a European working in a high ranking position for Singapore Branch of Royal Bank of Scotland, Mr. Stefan Masuhr, a middle aged man, who got out of his luxury Bentley in a crowded Singapore street (they are all crowded in Singapore) and smashed the windscreen of a car driven by a woman because he did not like the way she drove.

At the time of this unprovoked violence in public, the woman was still inside her car with the windows closed, presumably trembling with fear of him.

An examination of the sentencing practice in Singapore for their ordinary mortals, by which I mean the average Singaporean who goes to the coffee shop and has his regular roti prata (the Singapore equivalent of the English egg and bacon), is usually jail time no less than a week. Especially so as he would have caused extreme fear to the local Singapore woman who was in her car with all her windows closed, hysterical with fear.

But you know what, I can bet my every penny that in this case, this wealthy Caucasian will not go to jail at all. It will just be a fine in his case after all, since Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew has a long standing policy in his "rule of law" country that some should be treated better than others.

You have heard about 2 years ago the case of the editor of a state controlled Chinese language newspaper in Singapore who was talking on her cell phone while driving, ran a red light in a busy traffic intersection, crashed into a motorcyclist, killing his pillion and paralysing him from waist down.

Yes you guessed it, there was no jail term in her case. Don't forget, she is after all special. As expected in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore kangaroo courts, she was asked to pay a small fine and walked off Scot free.

I do not know if since then she has killed anymore people using her car as a lethal weapon. I wouldn't be surprised if she did. After all she has special treatment being the editor of Lee Kuan Yew's Chinese language propaganda Sheet. It is like expecting Adolf Hitler to send Joseph Goebbels, his propaganda man to jail. Anyone else on the other hand would have gone to jail for at least 2 years.

We may not know exactly how much the fine will be in this well connected Caucasians case but that is only a case of details. But one thing I can bet with anyone who reads this blog which is this. Rich Caucasian is not going to jail. If he does I will eat my head.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Actually anyone could have said it, but yesterday I heard Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of Turkey who is now in New York for the UN Meetings say to Charlie Rose, the American TV host that without justice there is nothing. How very true.

He was referring to the storming of a Turkish vessel in alleged international waters carrying humanatrian supplies to Gaza refugees by Isreali naval forces and killing several Turks on board, which Erdogan claims was a criminal act.

Isreal he said loses it's credibility by these allegedly criminal actions. This is not justice he says and without justice Turkey should speak up against it.

Immediately it reminded me of Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore where the state misuses the law for their benefit, when it reminded me once again, that all Singapore's problems stem from this single source.

It is an incontrovertible truth that the abuse of the law and the lack of justice in the island, as is the case anywhere else in the world, is the sole reason for all of Singapore's problems. This is something which Lee Kuan Yew, the Singapore strongman appears to have ignored.

Singapore's difficulty today are many, with the most prominent being, the continuing mass brain drain of their skilled and educated; the calamitous drop in the island's birth rate; the languishing lawyer numbers in the profession; the large income gap between the mighty rich and the miserable poor; the continuing increase in the crime rate; the discontent among the Malays and the Indians in predominately Chinese island caused by the huge influx of Chinese immigrants brought in by Lee Kuan Yew government; the antagonism between the recent Chinese immigrants and local Singaporeans and etc etc.

Every single one of these problems can be traced to one single source, the lack of justice in Singapore. When Lee Kuan Yew's judge, Belinda Ang Saw Ean can so shamelessly tell the world in open court that she is willing to deliberately abuse the law to please her boss Lee Kuan Yew, as in the 2008 case of Lee Kuan Yew vs Chee Soon Juan, all respect was completely lost for it's legal system.

When time and time again you read in their state controlled newspapers that a certain so and so person in Lee's elite circle was given a very light sentence for a crime while another citizen who commits the same offense but is not connected with the government is treated harshly, all respect is lost in their legal system.

I can go on in case after case where the law is used one way for some lucky people but another harsh way for ordinary people, you lose all respect for their legal system.

And the law directly affects every single aspect of a person's life. In a situation like this where there is no justice, a man no longer feels secure in his daily life.

He no longer has any confidence that he will treated fairly. He no longer feels confident that the HDB government housing agency will be fair to him in allocating apartments. He no longer feels secure that his contracts would be honored by Lee's judges.

This unreliability of the legal system causes people to fear for their daily lives. It causes people to be more circumspect and cautious about every thing instead of spontaneity and confidence. People fear for their children's future. They fear for their own futures which is compelelty at the mercy of the vagaries of Lee's point of view at any point of time.

Dr. Chee Soon Juan who is Singapore's foremost political enemy of strongman Lee Kuan Yew knows he will never get jusitce ever in his life as long as he remains in the island.

And as long as Dr. Chee cannot get justice in the island, every single human being in that island is doomed to a life of uncertainly and insecurity. Insecurity in trade, business and every aspect of a person's life. Justice denied even to one single man, is justice denied to all. A country cannot hope to achieve any success because every single aspect of life is inextricably connected to one source alone, which is the law and justice.

This is why it is no surprise that the island of Singapore, no matter how much they try, continues to sink deeper and deeper into the abyss of failure and uncertainty.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Singapore state controlled newspaper Straits Times of Sept 22, 2011 has the report "Values, character education to take center stage: Heng Swee Keat".

In this story, the Singapore Minister for Education, Heng Swee Keat, I suppose for want of anything else to say, says that Singapore education will henceforth make "values and character education center stage" when he spoke to the island's school headmasters.

He said" values and character education are important as both globally and locally profound changes are taking place".

This report, as is the case usually with state controlled newspapers around the world, is completely untrue; nothing but pure and unadulterated propaganda or political rhetoric.

Nothing can be further from the truth.

In fact the vast majority of Singaporeans, even on a conservative estimate lack values and character which one would have expected of any human being anywhere else in the world.

Let me give you some examples of the sort of people Singaporeans today under the Lee Kuan Yew government are.

Recall the late Mr. JB Jeyaretnam, a fierce political opponent of the Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew.

You can look at the series of court cases brought against him by the Singapore strongman Lee, resulting in his kangaroo courts repeatedly making Jeyaretnam pay outrageous amounts of damages, bankrupting him which finally resulted in his heart attack and death.

Anyone with eyes can see that he was not guilty of anything, in fact, quite the contrary, he was indeed an upright brave man, a beacon for upright morals and decency, fighting for the rights of his fellow men.

If you wanted to find character and values in a man, you need have gone no further; Jeyaretnam was the man.

Yet according to Lee Kuan Yew's government of which this man Heng Swee Keat is a loyal supporter, JB Jeyaretnam was a criminal, a cheat and a thoroughly evil person.

On the other hand, we can assume according to the Lee Kuan Yew government, Lee himself is copiously endowed with these desirable attributes of values and character, although we all know that he repeatedly sues his opponents in his kangaroo courts to silence them, shuts down all the newspapers and prints propaganda for public consumption and employs thoroughly disgraceful characters like Davinder Singh, Attorney to persecute his opponents in his courts.

In the Pickwikian sense, or Singaporean sense, Belinda Ang Saw Ean his fawning boot licking judge, his Attorney General and all his lackeys who do the dirty work to silence political opponents are all men and women of value and character, thoroughly upright characters.

And according to Singapore, I Gopalan Nair who was recently disbarred from practicing law in Singapore for criticizing Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean for her dishonesty, among other things is a person lacking in integrity, is untrustworthy and unworthy to practice law in Singapore.

By the way, you might want to know that only Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore has this rather unflattering view of me which quite understandably is not held by the State Bar of California, USA or the Bar in England and Wales.

Over in these jurisdictions Gopalan Nair is a pretty upright character.

Unless this state controlled newspaper is writing these things for our entertainment, they should stop making these completely ridiculous claims; because by uttering this brazen stupidity they are insulting our intelligence.

It is just the reverse in Lee's Singapore. In fact if you did have values and character, you would not last in Singapore for one day, because you would be hounded and persecuted by Lee until you are literally finished.

Let me tell you who has character in Singapore today. It is Dr. Chee Soon Juan who continues fighting for the rights of Singaporeans despite having to suffer unbearable persecution.

However Lee Kuan Yew and I am sure this man Heng Swee Keat has a completely different view of him. According to Singapore's assessment, Dr. Chee is a crook, a criminal and any number of derogatory names that you can think of.

He has been repeatedly jailed for exercising his rights, ordered to pay more than a million dollars by his kangaroo courts, disqualified from politics and repeatedly maligned and vilified in Lee's newspapers.

And the Singaporeans who remain in Singapore today are by an large a people who do not have courage, scruples or values because if they did have any of these qualities, they would have been so indignant and outraged that they would have shown Lee Kuan Yew and Son the door a long time ago.

The very fact that they continue to live like slaves in Lee's Singapore shows they lack none of these qualities which one would look for in a human being.

To put it simply the people at the top in Singapore who govern with Lee Kuan Yew are nothing but a bunch of bootlickers and crawlers who achieve high office not because they have any values or character but because they are eternally willing to lick Lee's boots to prop him up in power.

The moment they stop singing the praises and pick up even some courage to do the right thing, they are instantly removed, maligned and defamed in his state controlled press.

I don't think Heng Swee Keat, a Lee Kuan Yew lackey is fooling anyone by talking about character and values in Lee's Singapore, unless of course he is trying to entertain us.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

It was all right in the 1950s Singapore when it was little more than a fishing village, for a few men with Lee Kuan Yew at the top, calling the shots and formulating policies, when the people were so backward to start with, that any change even second rate is still better than nothing. After all decades ago, thinks were much simpler than they were now, when it was slow paced simple living.

But surely today, Singapore a modern city requires much more care and expertise than days bygone. It is obviously a far more complex society, advanced in science and technology with international trading and banking and other modern sophisticated industries. It requires more expertise and brains than before. But it appears Lee Kuan Yew and Son who run the country don't appear to understand this as they are going on the way it was 50 years ago. At least that is what it appears to me.

For one thing, the Singapore government appears to be nothing more than a handful of Lee Kuan yew cronies who have sworn loyalty to him running the island in every sphere of government. They do this by shutting off any contrary or divergent viewpoint in the assumption that they alone know best; and their ideas alone are enough. The state controlled press is effectively used for this purpose, in whose pages your read only what Lee Kuan Yew and his handful of loyal friends have decided for you.

But surely it must be understood by all that a complex modern society like Singapore requires all the minds they have. Since a handful of men cannot have all the answers for today's Singapore, every other opinion should be allowed to surface and debated thereby ensuring that mistakes which could have been avoided are not made.

For instance take the government's decision to bring in massive numbers of Chinese immigrants from Communist China for settlement into Singapore completely changing the racial boundaries and deliberately changing the island into a carbon copy of any city in China.

My question is this. When they decided on this massive importation of Chinese migrants from Communist China who have nothing in common with the locals, did they consider it's impact on Singapore's Indians or Malays? Did they not know that Mainland Communist Chinese have different behaviors than locals? Did they expect them to live in harmony with Singapore Indians and Malays? Have they not considered the possibility of racial conflict between these recent Chinese migrants if they insulted a Singapore Malay or Indian who took offense to their behaviours?

In fact although it is not reported in the state controlled Singapore press, racial violence has already started between the races in Singapore in several places which Lee Kuan Yew's state controlled press refuses to print.

Many possibilities are open for racial violence in the sardine packed island of several different races living shoulder to shoulder. Take this scenario. A Chinese national of Communist China goes to district of Geylang Serai which has large Malay population and insults a Malay in the midst of many other Malays. If the Malay took offense to this Chinese person, he might just give him a beating. And if the other Malays join in, you have in that instant a racial riot. This sort of thing is unlikely to happen among Singaporeans as they have lived together so long and have fine tuned their harmonious living in the midst of others, since they know how bad it will become if Chinese insulted Malays. But these recent Communist Chinese coming to Singapore are not cultivated to behave this way, since their China is not a multi racial country and they have no experience living among foreigners.

The same if an Singaporean Indian had he gone to Singapore Chinatown. Human beings being what they are, he might react violently to an abuse from some Chinese person there, which would result in the entire hordes of Peoples Republic of China people beating him up. Again you have a riot.

Remember the Chinese from China who are coming to Singapore are not the educated cultured lot. They are the illiterate impoverished bums from their impoverished regions. These people are not the sort one would invite to a crowded island such as Singapore comprised of many different races who have been living there in harmony for decades.

I would have had no objection if they brought in Englishmen or Germans, a sophisticated cultured and intelligent people, to settle in Singapore but they are not there for 2 reasons. First Lee Kuan Yew and Son don't want them there in any sizable number, because if they did come, they would unseat both father and son. Second Englishmen and Germans already know what Singapore is, nothing but a banana one party dictatorship which they have no desire to live in. Which leaves only these third rate uncouth ill mannered third world Chinese from the impoverished part of China to come, because no one else wants to.

And to make matters worse, the educated in Singapore who have any self respect are refusing to have anything to do with this one party state because it would mean towing the line which they will not.

Unless Lee Kuan Yew and Son team in Singapore wake up to the idea of opening up the island to divergent views, allowing all to express themselves freely without fear, you are going to continue making one mistake after another as you do now.

Simply put Singapore does not have enough ideas floating around to make it a viable nation, because Lee Kuan Yew supresses them. And these hordes of recent Chinese immigrants from China who cannot contribute even one bit to the nation does not help the problem either.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Correction, Sept 20, 2011: The SS Rohna did not sink with all hands. Although the majority of the passengers died, a portion were in fact rescued.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Frankly, if my late father who was born in 1906 in then Malabar, India who left Madras India on the SS Rohna, a vessel of the then British India Steam Navigation Company, for then British Malaya in 1928 and for British Singapore in 1930 wanted to live in a Chinese city, he would have gone to Shanghai or Hong Kong instead. He didn't. His idea was to try his luck in British Malaya or Singapore of the 1920s where English was spoken and a government which one could respect with the rule of law.

By the way, digressing, the SS Rohna was later commandeered by the British Military during WW2 and used as a troopship in Mediterranean waters where she met her fate and was sunk with great loss of life (correction), by a German Uboat torpedo in around 1942.

Today, if my father who died many years ago were to be told that in Singapore today, there are hordes and hordes of uncouth ill mannered Mandarin speaking recent immigrants from Communist China and the entire population of Malays and Indians who are born and raised in Singapore are left completely at a loss in comprehension of this Chinese hordes with whom they have nothing in common, I am sure he would have turned in his grave.

The recent importation of hordes upon hordes of Chinese immigrants from China by this Lee Kuan Yew government of Singapore, is deliberately turning Singapore into something which the original native population of Singapore had never bargained for; is an unforgivable fraud perpetrated on native Singaporeans and they simply have to put a stop to this.

I don't think anyone who was around at the beginning of modern Singapore ever envisaged it to be a Chinese city where Chinese is spoken everywhere at the expense of local Singaporeans who do not want this, and I am sure this sentiment is shared equally by the native Chinese Singaporeans as well.

I can tell you that everywhere you go in the island today, you hear the incessant non stop sher sher sher sounding noises which is how Chinese Mandarin is spoken which is both annoying and painful to the ear. And what is more, surely it is completely unacceptable for an entire one third of the population made up of Malays and Indians to be completely left out of any conversation while these Mainland Chinese imports go on with their non stop sher sher sher sounding language.

These recent mainland Chinese imports devoid of any English are moreover uncouth and uncultured, talking loudly and misbehaving in public as expected of these impoverished peasant classes in China from where they come. They have no knowledge at all about Singapore and are usually competely unskilled. It would have made no difference for them had they gone to Fiji islands instead of Singapore if they could make a buck.

These Chinese uneducated hordes from Communist China add no advantage or credit to Singapore and on the whole lower the island's standards instead of advancing it. They have to be stopped. English has to be re-introduced as the main language of communication and Singapore should be what we all expected of it, an English speaking country with a common Western style of living. Of course we all speak our native languages at home but the common language has to be English, not Mandarin Chinese as it has already sadly become.

The following video describes this Mandarin Chinese problem in Singapore much better than I can. Moreover it is played by a Singaporean Chinese woman

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

For those following the Singapore government's so far unsuccessful attempts to "punish" me for criticizing their state controlled judges which resulted in disbarring me from practicing law in their island, which by the way, has no effect on me whatsoever since I don't live there, they have not managed to enforce any part of their judgement against me outside Singapore.

1. As I practice law in California, USA, I am required to report any finding of wrongdoing in any part of the world to them as my right to practice here is dependant on my continuing to maintain good moral character both in California or elsewhere. Since my reporting to them of this fact in July 25, 2011, the date of my Singapore disbarment, I have never heard from the State Bar of California. I suppose they have a different view of what unethical conduct is from that held by Singapore. Neither have I heard from the Bar Council England and Wales of which I remain a member in good standing.

This refusal of the State Bar of California to take any steps against me, does not reflect well on the reputation of the Singapore legal profession to say the least; as this is an indirect way for them to tell the Singapore authorities that they have a set of ethical rules which do not comport with that of California.

In fact they are saying that even though I have been disbarred in Singapore, another so called common law jurisdiction like California, being the most severe of penalties that can be imposed by any legal body on a lawyer (disbarment); as far as they are concerned, I don't even deserve to be given the lightest of punishments, not even a warning!

2. Second, the Singapore court in these disbarment proceedings ordered that I pay the costs of the Singapore Law Society in addition to my being disbarred (Please see court order of disbarment, earlier published). To date, Singapore has not written to me to pay any amount respecting their costs as required by their court order. I expect these costs to have run into hundreds of thousands of dollars as these proceedings extended more than a year. From their silence I can only assume that the Singapore Law Society has decided to forgo their costs to which they claim they are entitled; perhaps because they are not confident that their judgement would be enforceable in a jurisdiction such as California which has the rule of law.

3. Also about the same time, when I was tried for contempt of court in 2008 in Singapore for criticizing their corrupt judges who misuse the law to please the Singapore strongman, the court ordered that I pay costs of $5,000.00. Even though I did not pay the costs in Singapore, they made no attempt to stop me from leaving the country without paying in November 2008. Up till now they made no attempt to recover this sum. Again I can only assume that they have decided to forgo this amount too for the same reasons stated above.

4. In the more distant past in 1991 they ordered me to pay about $110,000 for costs in respect of my suspension from practicing law in Singapore for enquiring of the case of JB Jeyaretnam to the then Singapore Attorney General and another case of contempt also in the same year for making an election rally speech in Bukit Merah which they did not like where the court ordered me to pay about $13,000.00 in costs. To date I have not paid either of these amounts and neither have they made any attempts to recover them.

It appears to me that Lee Kuan Yew's court judgements in Singapore are so much of paper and nothing more. He only abuses the law and hurts you when he can get you. If not he remains silent.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Singapore state controlled newspaper the Straits Times reports on Sept 19, 2011has the story "Number of lawyers in Singapore could hit record 4,000 this year". It talks of Singapore's "record" of trying to increase the number of lawyers in their lawyer starved Stalinist one party state from the thoroughly insufficient 3,000 at present.

A little background to Singapore would keep this report in perspective. It is a one party state island country with a population of 5 million of which only 3 million are native born Singaporeans while the remaining 2 million are mainly comprised of recent Chinese immigrants from Mainland China who almost entirely speak only Chinese while Singapore's main language has always been English or a corrupted version of it called Singlish.

The island's main economic sectors include international banking, commerce, tourism and some manufacturing based on cheap sweatshop labour imported from neighbouring third world impoverished countries.

One would have thought that a country such as this, with 5 million people and with economic sectors such as this would have thousands and thousands of lawyers.

Wrong, as Singapore up till now has been struggling with no more than a miserable 3,000 lawyers mainly because the law in Singapore has been thoroughly discredited both within and outside Singapore, the reason being that Lee Kuan Yew, the Singapore lifetime dictator and his son who rule the island have been using or rather misusing the law as their principle political tool to destroy their opponents.

Naturally this shameful practice of misusing the law as a political weapon would have a negative impact on Singapore's legal profession since being a lawyer there today is looked upon with scorn and shame, as a bunch of disgraceful men and women who would sell their convictions and principles for a few dollars to please the tyrant.

Now it appears, according to the state controlled newspaper's report, the number of lawyers will increase to a "record" of 4,000. A record indeed! This is not a "record" that any country such as Singapore should be proud of.

Even if it were true, as the veracity of these state controlled newspapers are always suspect, not only in Singapore, but also in Cuba and North Korea, it is hardly a sufficient number for a country such as this that relies on banking and international trade, not to mention money laundering, for a living. Remember money launderes too need lawyers.

Cities such as London and New york have several times that number of lawyers, running into hundreds of thousands because quite obviously countries that rely on commerce and international trade require far more lawyers than agricultural third word economies.

In fact even the attempt at increasing the number to 4,000 is both contrived and suspect.

It was, as the state controlled newspaper report hints indirectly, achieved by lowering the standards of admission, since all previous attempts to attract qualified candidates to the profession had failed: "Surge is due to changes to enable more to qualify as well as SMU law grads" "The number of lawyers practicing Singapore law here could hit a record 4,000 late this year as the impact of changes to enable more to qualify kicks in"

In fact the already miniscule low quality of the 3,000 lawyers practicing today would be lowered even more with this addition of even less qualified lawyers.

Let me tell you of one such poorly qualified candidate to Singapore's newest batch of lawyers. I know him personally. Let us call him Mr. X, a Singapore born Pakistani Muslim 63 years old. He was the grandson of one of the carpet dealers of Singapore (since deceased) and spent most his time in small scale business enterprises, all not very successfully.

About 15 years ago he had done a correspondence course in law with an English university and managed to get his correspondence law degree. Knowing him it is very probable that all his essays that he wrote for his degree through correspondence was probably written by someone else who knew the law a little better, if you know what I mean. He never took any exam physically in England and neither has he ever been there at all.

All these years since he got his law degree through mail order, he wasn't able to be a Singapore lawyer since in the past the rules did not permit correspondence degree holders to become Singapore lawyers.

The last I called him, he tells me that he is, finally, going to be a lawyer in Singapore as they have finally accepted his qualifications, in Singapore, at the age of 63! He will be part of the recent increase mentioned by this state controlled newspaper.

I personally would not trust Mr. X with any work on my behalf and I pity that unsuspecting client who would. And if this is the sort of the new "surge" of Singapore lawyers, it really would not matter much if instead of 4,000, you have a 100,000 of them.

The message should be clear to anyone with eyes to see. If you misuse the law, you damage it's reputation which means a lowering of standards.

In any case, anyone who knows the law is being misused and yet willingly joins the profession is surely wanting in many respects. And if he does not know that the law is being misused, he is an ignorant lawyer, which is equally bad.

I reckon this spurious attempt by Singapore to increase the lawyer numbers is in fact going to backfire on this one party father and son dictatorship one way or another, and instead of increasing the numbers it may even reduce it's numbers to even less than the present 3,000.

One, even the lawyers practicing there today might feel uncomfortable with the standards being reduced even further and may decide to leave the profession in even larger numbers. Two, these poorly qualified lawyers themselves may be incapable of withstanding the rigours expected of the profession and may leave the profession anyway.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

It is generally understood that the tiny island of Singapore with a local born population of only 3 million and recent foreign immigrants of 2 million, 5 million in all, today suffers a number of serious problems making it progressively less efficient or competitive.

For one, it has a declining native population.

Too many people are getting old and dying while locals are not having enough babies.

To make matters worse, the repressive authoritarian style of government causes increasing numbers of educated citizens to leave for the West.

In order to counter this imbalance, the government is making matters worse by letting in even greater numbers of immigrants thereby angering the native population who want a stop to any further immigration, as this represses their wages and reduces their standard of living.

It appears to me that the Lee Kuan Yew father and son government of Singapore are like pilots of an aircraft which has been set on auto pilot for so long that now since the electronics has malfunctioned, and it is falling off the sky in a tailspin they have forgotten how to how to disengage the autopilot, recover the aircraft and fly it manually.

The comparison to the travails of modern day aviation has many similarities to the insurmountable problems that tiny Singapore faces.

Firstly, it's problems follows the familiar patters of all state controlled dictatorships of the world.

When Lee Kuan Yew first came to power, the idea was, as it is even today, a powerful centralized government which can enforce order and obedience over it's people, which of course helps a fair amount of progress.

With the control of every aspect of the lives of Singaporeans; with the control of the press; the control of the courts; the control of the unions and everything else in between, the island became one almost militaristic disciplined organization that advanced to a certain point like clockwork.

With no criticism entertained from any quarter under the pain of defamation actions and imprisonment, any government could have progressed just as Singapore did.

But the problem is that such controlled progress has it's limits.

Just like the Soviet Union which only progressed so far, but crumbled when suddenly faced with freedom and democracy with the fall of Communism, Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore too appears to have reached it's limit for success under this controlled political atmosphere.

The problem with all these dictatorships is the same everywhere, which is, the dictator thinks he knows too much, which has been the cause of the down fall of them as well as their countries.

In Singapore Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP monopolized the thought process.

A handful of people surrounding Lee (vastly insufficient since it is already a tiny country) decided on everything, how many schools, what types of schools, how many children should a family be allowed, how many universities to build and the same about everything else.

The only ideas that were entertained were those which comported with theirs.

Any variant from their thinking was shut out by the state controlled media and if the proponent of it persisted rendered him liable to arrest, imprisonment and defamation lawsuits.

But surely, with a very small number of people doing the thinking and formulating policy as in Singapore, you are practically shutting out a great number of diverse and novel ideas which all die even before they see the light.

And quite obviously because these small number of thinking caps at the top cannot always be right, you find a series of wrong policies with devastating consequences on the people, which would never have happened had the people been allowed to have their say.

And for the people to be allowed to have their say, for the betterment of society as a whole, you need a free press, not a state owned and controlled press that serves the Lee Kuan Yew family as in Singapore.

Recall some 30 years ago, the government imposed the rule denying families the right to have more than 2 children, under the pain of heavy penalties.

Singapore's hapless weak population who live in fear of Lee Kuan Yew and what he will do to them if they refused, obediently complied with devastating unintended consequences today, where the government finds itself having the lowest birth rate in the world and no amount of inducement perks or goodies can correct it's collision course to destruction.

Take Lee Kuan Yew's wierd inexplicable determination to keep increasing Singapore's population by importing immigrants from Mainland China burgeoning it's polulation from 3 million to what it is today, 5 million as if this population increase is somehow the secret for success.

Yet you see several mightily successful similarly or even smaller sized countries doing equally well if not better with much smaller populations, such as the Indian Ocean island state of Mauritius, Malta and Gibraltar.

These countries not only do well, unlike Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, they are democracies with a free press and an independent and respected judiciary, where their citizens are happy to be called either Mauritians, Maltese or Gibraltarians and they have a good healthy birth rate, and none of them are dying to escape from their countries to the West as Singaporeans do.

What the Lee government refuses to accept is the fact that in today's Singapore,just as in any other modern society, every single human being is capable of contributing ideas and opinions on how a society is run and it is from the sum total of these ideas that good sound policies emerge and stabilize and correct the path of the society.

Simply put, in any society, the more thinking caps the better.

In fact the adage too many cooks spoil the broth, is completely inapplicable to nations because it is just the reverse.

Too many cooks or discerning concerned citizens, are in fact a necessary requirement for any nation to keep progressing and advancing.

The clash of ideas and viewpoints in any society is a healthy thing which is the fuel that propels a country to further and further heights.

It is also a self correcting keel like that of a sailing vessel, which corrects and stabilises it in a storm from capsizing, keeping a steady keel.

In fact the more educated minds in a society with more divergent views, the heavier the keel of the imaginary ship of Singapore, that will ensure it's survival in times of stormy weather, keeping the boat afloat.

But Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew has so successfully shut out any views which may be even remotely different from his own, all you have left is a handful of men and women, essentially bootlickers, who surround him, formulating policies which would hopefully please their master.

You recall a child like girlish looking 27 year old ethnic Chinese woman who was recently elected into Singapore parliament as the people were bereft of any other choices, Tin Pei Ling.

Hearing her speak one begins to wonder if she has any views of her own at all.

This little girl will be ruling over Singaporeans in her capacity as member of Parliament, I expect doing nothing more than repeating parrot like what Lee Kuan Yew had said the day before and what her political boss had told her to say the day before that.

In fact I can say that too; I can say, PAP is good, housing is good, education is good and Singapore is best.

In Singapore today, people look at politics as a way of making money, not anything more.

None has any ideas of their own, no vision, no purpose, nothing whatsoever.

You become a lawyer in Singapore to make money and you do it by joining the PAP.

You will then get good jobs in big law firms and government contracts.

You can then go out and buy your Mercedes Benz and live happily ever after.

You join Singapore Civil Service to make money, never mind anything else.

You do it by joining the PAP and doing anything you are told like victimizing Lee's opponents, denying them jobs and generally doing anything you are told to please the Master.

That way you get promoted, get even more money and live happily ever after.

You join the police to make money.

You do this by pleasing your master.

You will have to arrest government critics and keep surveillance over them.

When Lee knows that you are obediently towing the line and doing the dirty work, you get promoted and become the Chief of Police.

That means more money and a very happy life.

With a hopeless situation such as this in a tiny island of only 3 million locals, where a mere handful of men and women or Lee Kuan Yew lackeys create the polices and everyone else like Tin Pei Ling doing as they are told, Singapore's prospects appears zero.

In fact it has no hope at all.

Singapore's situation is no different from that of the former Soviet Union.

One would have thought that after liberation from Communism, the Russians would have jumped to it, grasped the opportunity and become a vibrant progressive democracy.

Far from it, it has declined even further from what it was even under Communism.

The Russians were for so long a country of mere followers, incapable of thinking independently for themselves; and now since they have got their freedom they don't know what to do with it.

The Soviet Union did manage to achieve some success under it's previous state controlled economy but in today's world merely doing what you are told is simply not good enough.

You need to think and that is where the former Soviet Union fails.

Singapore suffers from the same problem that Russia today faces.

The people are incapable of thinking.

They are only capable of following.

And such blind obedience is not enough to take Singapore ahead.

And with the difficulty compounded with a tiny population, there is simply no hope for Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.

Lee Kuan Yew has simply damaged his people's ability to think freely, being constantly kept in great fear of arrest and defamation actions, that they have permanently lost this ability altogether.

Their minds are permanently damaged through decades of self induced fear.

Lee Kuan Yew fails to understand one cardinal principal which is, that you allow people their rights to have their own opinions and ideas.

Doing this, you inculcate a sense of loyalty into Singaporeans, a sense of belonging, a sense of importance and being appreciated; and a desire to contribute to their country.

A thinking population full of ideas is itself a force which will take the country into newer directions and greatness.

Have you ever imagined what Singapore could have become had the 3 million local native born Singaporeans been allowed their place in society?

They would not have emigrated in droves as they do now, they would have sunk roots, have families and have come up with new and innovative ideas far superior to any this tin pot tyrant and his few bootlicker cronies could have ever churned up.

It may have become an education hub, a legal hub or an aviation or maritime hub.

There could have been great sportsmen, adventurers, scientists, poets.

Singapore could have been a much greater place than it ever is today had there been freedom and liberty.

Singapore has been kept under autopilot for far too long by Lee Kuan Yew and his friends at the top.

Now for the first time facing real challenges to keep the airplane airborne, the people of Singapore have lost the knowledge of how to manually fly the aircraft.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Can you imagine if England which has a population of 60 million has a dwindling population. Imagine it has a government which completely ignores what Englishmen want. Imagine if they brought in 30 million Romanians to settle in England, and one could not tell the difference since they are both European. Imagine if the English language use in the country continues to decline. Imagine if almost everyone in England today speaks Romanian instead of English. Imagine if Romanians in the country have no clue whatsoever of the long history, culture or democratic traditions of England. Do you think Englishmen would accept this lying down?

Imagine if Germany invited 40 million Cubans to populate Germany so that the proud native Germans with their long history and achievement is completely lost to the Cuban culture and Spanish language. Imagine if today you only see Cubans in every big German city and finding a native German is a rarity. Do you think the Germans would take this lying down? Imagine if unlike the cultured Germans, these recent Cuban imports go around spitting and gesticulating in public indiscriminately, destroying the image that Germans had as a cultured people.

Yet this is exactly what has already happened to Singapore. In 2 more years Singapore would have completely lost their native citizens, their unique character and way of life to recently arrived second rate foreigners who have no idea what Singapore was or even is. English language in the island is destroyed and in it's place there is Mandarin Chinese. The few local Singaporeans remaining have nothing in common with these Mandarin Chinese from China who do not mingle with the locals. The few local Singaporeans remaining seek solace in other local Singaporeans while the Mandarin Chinese imports socialize among themselves. Afterall these 2 have nothing in common.

Look at Singapore today. Every single grocery store employs foreigners, Mandarin Chinese and Filipinos. Same with 7/11 stores, Filipinos. Same with hospitals Filipinos. Government offices all have Mandarin Chinese from China and when they are at a loss for English with a customer, turn to the few remaining supervisors who has some English.

Any sense of identity as Singaporean is completely lost. The vast majority of people there are transient in the sense of being temporary. They are there to make a few bucks which they could not do back in their own countries. They come and go and like people through a revolving door at a hotel; people from the selected donor countries coming and going.

At the top of the pecking order Lee Kuan Yew and his family sit and rule and make money in the process using this imported UnSingaporean foreign labor. In time one wonders whether Singapore's leaders too would be from somewhere else. Would we have a Beijing born Prime Minister and Minister Mentor in the future.

Although local Singaporeans are aware of this irreparable and permanent damage being done to their island, they continue powerless and do nothing looking agape. They fear complaining as this may attract retribution from the Lee family. There are no protests remonstrations demonstrations against this attack upon their beloved Singapore. And to cap it all, while this total transformation of their island goes on unabated thanks to Lee Kuan Yew and son, inherent social conditions further damage the island. The birth rate is the lowest in the world and people are not marrying because of the tight economic stresses upon them. To add salt to the wound, in disgust every single Singapore student who goes to the West for an education never returns.

As if all this was not enough, to make matters worse, the best and the brightest are the ones who leave because they can, leaving behind second rate uneducated and unskilled Singaporeans to live among the recent immigrants from China.

And all this, believe it or not, is happening in a small island comprised of only about 3 million local Singaporeans which already has 2 million foreigners!

Unless concerned Singaporeans take the bull by the horns, stand up and say enough is enough, I don't see any hope. Do you?

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Singapore's dictator Lee Kuan Yew appears to be in an untenable situation, just as is the fate of any other dictator anywhere else.

On the one hand Lee has no choice but to continue for Singapore to be a global city with commerce banking and tourism as it's mainstay. After all, Singapore cannot be an agricultural peasant society simply because it cannot survive like that.

On the other hand the more it becomes a society connected to the world and exposed to foreign influences, the more difficult it becomes for him to retain his tight grip over it's citizens.

Let us not forget what Singapore is. It is principally a one party state, with no free press, no fundamental freedoms such as free speech and expression and where the judiciary is not independent, but under the control of the state. It is also a country where Lee and his family pay themselves any amount they want, which happens to be $3.7 million per year today; each.

This sort of a totalitarian society simply does not fit with a global society of free exchange of ideas, since freedom and democracy trumps repression and totalitarianism anytime. His problem therefore is increasingly this; how to reconcile repression and absolute control over an increasingly educated and sophisticated population.

But by Lee Kuan Yew continuing to retain a tight grip over every aspect of his people, and at the same time educating them, it appears either he does not accept the inevitable which is staring him in the face or he he wants to retain power at the expense of the interests of his country.

I am sure if the issue is put to the people, the vast majority of Singaporeans would prefer to live in a democratic society where individuals live as free men and women and not in fear as they live now. But if this happens, Lee Kuan Yew's control over his people will weaken and in no time, he will be shown the door.

Faced with the need of Singapore to connect to the world but at the same time wanting to control every aspect of life of his people, Lee finds himself in an impossible situation. Either he serves himself or he serves Singapore; he simply cannot have both

Distasteful as the situation has become in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, those who can leave the island as soon as they can. To replace them he brings in huge numbers of Mainland Chinese who speak no English and who are generally dumb, because if they were anything else, they would not want to live in society such as this.

Today all that is going for him is his state controlled press where articles are published daily praising the successes of Singapore and how good they are, all humbug of course. At the same time the reality is that the people who have any ability are all leaving replaced with these Chinese immigrants with naught in their heads. Such people are incapable of bringing Singapore any success because all they can do is to do as they are told. They know nothing else.

An advanced country should have smart capable; thinking people. No country ever managed to advance without thingking people, people with opinions and some understanding of the world.

When Lee Kuan Yew tries to show a facade of an improving modern advanced city, he is not fooling anyone when all he has are these Mandarin speaking new immigrants from China who have no opinions at all.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

If you are not aware of the hidden side of Singapore, a police state no better than present day Burma or North Korea, the following 2 videos will interest you.

In them appear Chee Siok Chin, one of Singapore's handful of freedom fighters who are demanding the introduction of democracy in the island which is presently lacking under the government of the father and son team (Lee Kuan Yew and Son).

The incident in the video occurred on Nov 20, 2007 along Orchard Road and Scotts Road Singapore leading up to the Shangri-La Hotel where delegates from the Asean countries were holding their meetings on matters including human rights.

You will see in the video that all Chee Siok Chin was doing was merely walking along the street that leads up to the Hotel. The street is a public street where anyone has a right to pass. Yet you see that she alone is confronted, manhandled, harassed and physically and mentally abused and abducted to an unknown destination in an unmarked police vehicle.

She has not committed any offense. You notice the police keep telling her that the area is a "gazetted place" for asking her to leave, yet this rule does not appear to apply to anyone else, since cars and people are seen moving freely along the road.

I hope that both Singaporeans and friends alike from all over the world will pass this video around to show what really is Singapore under the control of father and his son, that is Lee Kuan Yew and his son Lee Hsien Loong. The father calls himself Minister Mentor and the son calls himself Prime Minister.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

I have attached below a Wiki leaks report dated August 30, 2011, from American Embassy Singapore to US State Department Washington DC, which states Singapore journalists and reporters are increasingly finding it uncomfortable to accept Lee's government interference in their reporting in the island's state controlled press such as the Straits Times.

They are threatening to resign instead of succumbing to this unacceptable inference in newspaper reporting. In fact Miss Lee who was with the Straits Times Indonesian bureau did resign rather than continue with the state controlled paper.

According to the report, Singapore Ministers and senior government officials continue to demand of Singapore reporters and journalists to either distort the news or not print negative reports, so as to show the PAP Singapore government in a favourable light, in order to score points with father and son (Lee Kuan Yew and Son).

This is the sort of tactics that went on in the former Soviet Union's Pravda and Izvestia and presently in Kim Jong Il's North Korea, not something one would expect of a so-called "first world country".

Although this wiki leaks report talks only about press freedom, Lee Kuan Yew's one party state Singapore faces the same problem in all other areas. Lawyers are increasingly leaving the legal profession and today there are no more than 3,000 of them in the entire island.

Doctors and nurses are leaving the medical profession. The police force is finding it increasingly difficult to attract and keep qualified officers and their ranks continue to shrink. Almost every student that goes to more liberal countries for an education refuses to return. There are thousands, even hundreds of thousands of National service deserters who willingly accept permanent exile rather than return to Singapore for national service.

But the state controlled newspaper Straits Times does not have any of these stories. According to them, the news today could not have been better. I do not know who it is who said that dictatorships look good until the last 10 minutes. I suppose that is what is happening to the father and son government (Lee Kuan Yew and Son) of Singapore.

There is however one error in the American Embassy report below. It says "online speech is unrestricted" in Singapore. This is incorrect. Internet speech is as much controlled as it is in print. Although Singaporeans do criticize their government in the Internet, they only dare to do this anonymously. If anyone is identified within Singapore of this, he would be immediately arrested and charged. You will recall I (Gopalan Nair) too was arrested and jailed 3 months in Singapore for writing a blog post critical of their legal system while there. Had I written any of this within Singapore, I have no doubt I would have been arrested and jailed. The only reason why I am left alone now is because they are powerless in persecuting anyone outside Singapore. This should explain why every Internet article critical of the Lee Administration is always anonymous, as are the comments in this blog.

The wiki leaks report is reproduced courtesy of Dr. Chee Soon Juan and his Singapore Democratic Party website.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

1. Summary: Singapore journalists say they are increasingly frustrated with GOS-imposed limits on their domestic reporting. Political leaders put pressure on the Straits Times (ST) staff to ensure that the paper's domestic coverage follows the government line.

Reporters say they are eager to produce more investigative and critical reporting, but they are stifled by editors who have been groomed to tow the line. Some reporters seek an outlet for their journalistic passions by serving as overseas correspondents, where ST allows reporters much greater latitude; others consider plying their trade elsewhere. Given that media restrictions are no greater now than in the past, reporters' increasing frustration may reflect this generation's rising expectations.

2. Comment: The traditional media in Singapore are certainly no more restricted today than they have ever been, and other than on race and religion, online speech is generally unrestricted. That raises the question why reporters seem to be complaining more, or at least more openly. We suspect this reflects in part a generational shift; younger Singaporeans are accustomed to having more latitude, and it likely grates on reporters not to be able to say in print the kind of things people routinely say in cafes or online. It may also be that the leaderships, own frequent suggestions of the need for (incremental) political reforms may be raising expectations that so far have not been met.

Government ensures positive local press coverage

3. Singapore journalists tell us they are increasingly frustrated with the obstacles they face in reporting on sensitive domestic issues. Reporters have to be careful in their coverage of local news, as Singapore's leaders will likely come down hard on anyone who reports negative stories about the government or its leadership, name witheld (strictly protect), the new Straits Times (ST) U.S. Bureau Chief (former China Bureau Chief) told Poloff January 6. There is a growing disconnect between ST's reporters and its editors, with the reporters wanting to do more investigative and critical stories than the editors will allow. Name witheld lamented that the ST editors have all been groomed as pro-government supporters and are careful to ensure that reporting of local events adheres closely to the official line. Name witheld said that unless one of the editors is a "Trojan Horse," someone that for years has successfully concealed any non pro-government leanings, none of them has the courage to publish any stories critical of the government.

4. The government exerts significant pressure on ST editors to ensure that published articles follow the government's line, name witheld said. In the past, the editors had to contend only with the opinions of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (now Minister Mentor) and former Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong (now Senior Minister). However, a younger generation of government ministers is now vying for future leadership positions and one way for them to burnish their credentials with the old guard is to show they can be tough with the media, Name witheld said. As a result, several current ministers and second ministers (name witheld did not say which ones) routinely call ST editors to ensure that media coverage of an issue comes out the way they want it. While name witheld admitted that he knew of no editors who had been fired or otherwise punished for printing articles critical of the government, he said that is because all of the them have been vetted to ensure their pro-government leanings.

5. Name witheld speculated that while Lee's eventual passing may encourage the media to open up, the current crop of ST staff would only dare to buck the government's line if it were clear that the majority of Singaporeans were already opposed to the government's policy. Even then, the media would tread carefully as the government has an established track record of using the press, the ST in particular, to shape public opinion.

6. Name witheld admitted that domestically focused ST articles often read like Public Service Announcements. Name witheld noted that how the government intends to push a certain policy is often foreshadowed by extensive media coverage (published before the official policy announcements). As an example, name witheld pointed to the government's recent decision to assist retirees who lost investments in "mini-bonds" following the collapse of Lehman Brothers (ref A). That decision followed a spate of media coverage casting the retirees, plight in sympathetic terms.

7. In contrast to the informal restrictions placed on domestic reporting, ST reporters are given wide latitude in their coverage of international events. Name witheld said he enjoyed a great deal of freedom during his stint as ST's China Bureau Chief, and he expects to enjoy similar freedom during his new assignment as U.S. Bureau Chief. However, due to the expectations placed on editors, name witheld said he would likely never advance higher up the ladder at ST.

ST reporter confirms local media restrictions

8. Name witheld (strictly protect), a reporter for ST, confirmed the disconnect between editors and reporters. Name witheld highlighted the internal debate over the amount of coverage that the paper would dedicate to opposition icon J.B. Jeyaretnam (JBJ) following his death in September 2008. Name witheld said that while the editors agreed with reporters' demand for extensive coverage of JBJ political career and funeral (ref B), they rejected reporters' suggestions to limit the amount of coverage devoted to (relatively long) eulogies provided by Singapore's leaders. The leaders' statements took up a significant portion of the allotted space, name witheld lamented.

9. Name witheld also admitted that reporters practice self-censorship. Recalling the case of a journalist in Malaysia who was arrested for reprinting a politician's racially charged comments, name witheld noted she would never write about any racially sensitive issues. However, self-censorship is not really needed as most censorship is done by the editors, name witheld said. Name witheld, who is now one of ST's Indonesia correspondents, echoed name witheld's comments about having greater freedom to report stories (without censorship) while abroad. Highlighting her discouragement with her life as a Singapore journalist, name witheld said she considers her current Indonesia assignment as a one-year test case that will determine whether or not she stays in the profession.

Novice journalists also wary of system

10. Singapore's journalism students think twice about building careers at home in the first place, according to online student journalist name witheld (strictly protect). Name witheld and two classmates in the journalism school at Nanyang Technological University started their own online newspaper, The Enquirer, to write free of editorial interference after the existing University-funded student newspaper refused to cover a campus visit by opposition politician Chee Soon Juan. When asked how he would reconcile his journalistic ideals with the realities of a career in Singapore, name witheld told Poloff that he feared it would be too "stifling" to remain here. Instead, he foresaw spending one or two apprentice years here before working somewhere else. Many of name witheld's journalism-school classmates think the same way, he said.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Sometimes I ask myself, why am I so different, if indeed I am, from other Singaporeans in a country that I was born in.

Here I am criticizing the Singaporean system non stop, criticizing their judges whom I see as thoroughly disgraceful human beings shamelessly prostituting their judicial offices to please Lee Kuan Yew and to advance their own careers.

I have criticized Lee's government for denying a free press.

I have criticized them for denying human rights by criminalizing free speech and expression by jailing and bankrupting political opponents.

And Gopalan Nair himself has proudly gone to jail in Singapore in 2008 for exposing the shame of the grovelling and permanently prostrated judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean for mercilessly punishing an upright citizen Dr. Chee, while she sat in judgement in Singapore High Court when her master Lee Kuan Yew sued him for speaking up for Singaporeans.

Sometimes I ask myself, why is it that only Gopalan Nair is aware of these injustices, but not any other Singaporean.

Why is every other Singaporean unaware of these blatant injustices, which I can see but they do not.

Why does Gopalan Nair, who is perfectly happy in his new home of California, USA see the need to come to Singapore and tell Lee Kuan Yew and his lackeys in their faces that they are nothing but a bunch of disgraceful bootlickers and crawlers, invite arrest, go to jail, and afterwards, when he is finally safely in California United States, resume the criticism which eventually leads to his disbarment in Lee's Singapore courts.

Why does Gopalan Nair do it? Is he mad?

Perhaps in the Singaporean sense Gopalan Nair is mad but he will safely say that among almost all the normal human beings around the world, among Australians, Englishmen, Dutchmen, and I dare say even Eskimos, they would all have not even batted an eyelid to everything that he did, because for everyone of them, his actions would have been the very normal thing to do under these circumstances.

In fact everyone of them faced with these completely outrageous situation in Lee Kuan Yew's one party state would have done exactly what I did and in fact would have been very surprised if anyone did not.

Which leaves me to ask the question, is there something wrong with Gopalan Nair, or is there something wrong with the entire Singapore population? Or you could ask the question whether Gopalan Nair is an extraordinarily brave man or are the entire population of Singapore a bunch of cowards.

I am not sure if you really appreciate the gravity of the situation under which you live but let me remind you of it once again.

Once again may I remind Singaporeans that you live in an island where Lee Kuan Yew pays himself $3.7 million a year, which is nothing less than daylight robbery.

You live in a country where the entire media is state controlled which leaves you at any point of time not knowing whether it is news or double talk.

You live in a country where despite your rights under the Constitution, even a single peaceful protester runs the risk of being arrested and tortured in Lee Kuan Yew's prisons.

You live in a country where any assembly of citizens in public renders you to liable to imprisonment even though you have been thoroughly peaceful.

You live in a country where if Lee Kuan Yew sues you, even before he steps into the courtroom, he not only knows he won but also how many hundreds of thousands of dollars you will pay!

Now tell me this. When things like this happen, it makes my blood boil. Why does it not makes yours boil too? It makes me want to fight any tyrant who does this from within Singapore or from afar. That is why I do what I do, because it makes my blood boil.

I have always been this way, even while I used to live in Singapore. Throughout the 1980s after I returned to Singapore from England a lawyer, I joined JB Jeyaretnam in his Workers Party and fought 2 elections. Of course everyone I knew thought I was mad to work for opposition politics, Singaporeans being the cowardly lot they are.

Now let me ask you this. Why is it, that except for a handful of normal minded Singaporeans, not a single other person takes umbrage to this nonsense?

Unfortunately I can only come to the following conclusions. Firstly a great many Singaporeans are so dumb that they are not aware that they have any rights, let alone the knowledge of what those rights might be.

I think people like these have been called not very politely as "department store dummies", you know the sort who have nothing in their heads except the ability to read elementary English and are quite happy that they have a job and can go back to their teles in the evening.

For them being smart is just being quiet and live their happy blissful lives.

Second you have the disgraceful Singaporeans.

These are characters who would do anything as long as there is a buck.

In this lot you can lump together characters such as Davinder Singh of Drew and Napier, Lee Kuan Yew's lawyer who sues his client's critics for defamation and manages to extract mind boggling monetary awards leaving his fellow Singaporeans both penniless and bankrupt.

Third you have the foreign drug lords from Burma, and bank frauds from Indonesia who launder dirty money in Singapore and drive around in their Lamborghinis.

They don't care one way or other about anything as long as their money is safe.

If anything goes wrong in Singapore, I suppose they would take their money to the Pacific Island of Vanuatu, another money laundering hub like Singapore, and drive around in their Lamborghinis there.

And while all this goes on, if there is any Singaporean left in the island who thinks like me, he is probably either packing his bags and getting out of Lee Kuan Yew's one party Leninist island, or he may be picking up the courage to finally do something to rid the island of this nonsense of a government, through peaceful political agitation.

And while we speak, as Singaporeans have been squeezed out of their money by a government which wants every penny of it, they are not having enough children, they are not marrying and foreign Mandarin speaking Chinese who care 2 hoots about Singapore are slowly becoming the majority in the island.

And since 2006 this blog Singapore Dissident continues to expose the real Singapore which I can only imagine is making Lee Kuan Yew and his millionaire friends in the island very very angry at the troublesome Gopalan Nair who simply refuses to stop no matter what.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

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About Me

Determined to find the Truth.
Born Singapore, educated Winstedt School 2 (next to Monks Hill in Newton, Singapore) Raffles Institution, National Service, some travel in Europe, then law studies England, return to Singapore, practiced for 10 years, active Workers Party member, stood elections 1988 and 1991 in Singapore, was harassed and persecuted by Lee Kuan Yew for my political beliefs, left for USA, obtained asylum and admitted California State Bar, practice law ever since in Fremont California near San Francisco. Relinquished Singapore citizenship 2005 because I was not prepared to permit Lee Kuan Yew to unjustly retain my CPF funds if I remained Singapore Citizen. On principle, the only correct thing for me to do was to give it up, for my CPF funds. I am an American Citizen as of 2004.